Colonial Era: From Remnants to European Dominator

"Where did this tea brick come from?"

"Young Master, the Yueyunzhai has just sent some excellent tea. They say it's from Jiangnan and is much better than the northern tea we usually drink."

Tea from Jinshan Prefecture was very expensive, mostly sourced from Shanxi merchants in the Northwest. It was primarily lower-grade tea, such as brick tea. While good tea existed, it was extremely expensive, hence the saying, "An ounce of southern tea is worth an ounce of gold."

Li Yuanheng pinched the fragrant green tea between his fingers, a thoughtful glint in his eyes, before giving instructions to the servant before him:

"Leave half a pound for me, send two pounds to the inner hall, send three pounds to the master, and the rest, send it back to the treasury to sign."

"yes!!"

The servant carefully scooped some tea leaves from the cloth bag, then picked up a weight and weighed it several times before finally placing the half-pound into the bottle painted with kingfishers. Li Yuanheng, who witnessed all this, could only sigh inwardly.

"Jinshan Prefecture is truly impoverished. In my previous life, these teas were considered unwanted gifts, but now they are so precious. I really don't know what the broken brick tea that ordinary herders drink tastes like. I'm afraid it's just a supplement to their vitamin intake."

After the servant left, Li Yuanheng stared at the porcelain vase in front of him for a long time until a voice called "Lunch" came, at which point he stopped. However, the seed in his heart had already been planted, and his desire for tea would only grow deeper with the passage of time.

"Father, I'd like to visit the garrison camp in the next couple of days and stretch my muscles a bit."

At the dinner table, Li Yuanheng, chewing on a piece of beef shank, made a request to his father, who was seated to the left of the head of the table.

"Big Brother, you've only been back a few days, you should rest for a few days."

Dissatisfied, Li Zhang put the fish into Li Yuanheng's bowl, trying to shut her son up.

"Big Brother, your mother is right. We should stay home a few more days since we just got back. As for training, we can wait until after the Double Ninth Festival at the end of the month. Besides, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the garrison will have a five-day holiday. It's better to wait until after the Double Ninth Festival."

Li Yanxing's words seemed to give Li Zhangshi a great boost, making her extremely happy. She then said to Li Yuanli beside her:

"Erlang, you and your brother should wander around the city these next few days. Your elder brother is going on a blind date soon, and going to the garrison camp will take up too much time!"

"Blind date!!"

Li Yuanli's eyes lit up, as if his meridians had been opened. He looked at his elder brother with a pitiful expression and said sarcastically:

"If you find a wife, brother, you won't have time to hunt anymore. Oh well, I'll just play a few more times, and that will be my way of playing for you."

"In that case, when will you marry Zhao Xiaoniang?"

Li Yuanheng glanced at his younger brother with a cold, threatening look, but the latter looked away and said something else:

"Ah, where did this Zhao Xiaoniang come from? I, I don't know her at all----"

"Besides, my elder brother is unmarried. How can I, as his younger brother, overstep my bounds? Don't you agree, Mother?"

"You think you can escape? And that young lady Zhao, you'd better tell the truth!!"

Li Zhangshi rolled her eyes at Li Yuanli, and then began to dig deeper into the matter of "Zhao Xiaoniang".

Seeing this, Old Master Li, who was still slowly eating his fish while being served by servants, immediately burst out laughing. He then turned to Li Yanxing and said:

"The eldest son is decisive, resolute, intelligent, and ambitious. I think the second son is also quite capable; at least he's not at a disadvantage!"

"Haha----You've raised a wonderful son, absolutely wonderful!!"

Li Yanxing nodded awkwardly.

"Dalang has indeed changed a lot recently, but he's still too young. Take his banquet at the Zhao family, for example. With so many people at the banquet, he actually went up to the table shirtless and started telling stories. What kind of behavior is that? And during the banquet, he questioned Zhao, the registrar, about the quantity of agricultural products. Is that something you should ask at a banquet?"

"Father, Dalang still has a lot to learn; we can't let him become spoiled!!"

Just as Li Yuanheng was about to explain, he saw Old Master Li snort heavily a few times and point at him, saying:

"Your son's talent is precisely what makes him more capable than you. Questioning the agricultural products during the banquet was both a test and a way to establish authority. If these things were said within the government office, would outsiders even listen?"

"The Li, Zhao, Xie, and Zhang clans seem to share weal and woe, but in reality, the Li family should always come first. But why have their land and property grown stronger in recent years? Is it because they are good at managing their businesses? No, it's because they believe that Jinshan Prefecture rightfully belongs to them. We, the Li family, take the lion's share, and they should take the rest."

"If this continues, what will future generations do?"

Old Master Li's gaze was piercing, making Li Yanxing, who was being stared at, feel uneasy. The old master continued:

"The power of the three clans should have been suppressed years ago, but back then I only suppressed them covertly because of the friendship between my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. Now it seems that I made a mistake back then."

Li Yanxing opened his mouth, then asked solemnly:

"But what are we going to do for our son?"

"What you've done is practically telling everyone in Jinshan Prefecture that our Li family is purging our meritorious officials and discarding them after they've served their purpose!"

Old Master Li snorted disdainfully, his gaze towards his son carrying a hint of encouragement and dissatisfaction.

"What should we do then? We can't just let—"

Li Yanxing looked at Li Yuanheng, who was staring straight at him, and hesitated.

Old Master Li then pointed at Li Yuanheng again:

"Brother, are you confident?"

Li Yuanheng's eyes widened in surprise, his heart filled with both joy and astonishment, but he acted swiftly, standing up and bowing with his hands clasped in greeting:

"Everything depends on my son's success in training the troops, preferably after he returns from his arranged marriage. Then we can make a decision."

"Good, he truly is the Qilin of the Li family, my finest son!!"

Looking at Li Yuanheng standing before him, Old Master Li was extremely pleased. Overjoyed, he directly addressed his servants:

"Go, take out some of my stored grain. Today, I want to have a good drink with my eldest brother."

"Father, didn't Master Wang take your pulse last year? Your current health can't handle drinking."

Li Yanxing immediately stepped forward to stop him. Upon hearing this, Old Master Li was furious and was about to reprimand him when he heard Li Yuanheng also offering his advice:

"Grandpa's health is of utmost importance. Wouldn't it be better to save this bowl of wine for our grandson's wedding day?"

When Old Master Li heard this, his brows relaxed, but he still had a lot of resentment towards Li Yanxing, who was the first to stop him. He cursed him several times as a "rebellious son" before giving up.

Because of what had just happened, it took a full hour to finish lunch.

As soon as he finished eating, Li Yuanheng was summoned into his father's study. No one knew what was said in the study, but after leaving the study, Li Yuanheng announced that he would be going to the garrison camp after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

When the news reached Zhao Hucheng's ears, he stood alone on the second floor, the north wind blowing, sometimes shaking his head, sometimes nodding. That night, he summoned Zhao Shuzhen, the third daughter of the Zhao family who had an affair with Li Yuanli, known as Zhao Xiaoniang, into the back room.

As soon as Zhao Xiaoniang entered the inner hall, her face turned red. Before her was a wedding crown, which she naturally recognized. It was the one her mother had brought when she married from the Xie family. The meaning of its presence before her was self-evident.

What made her even more ashamed and uneasy was that her father's first impression of her was:

"During the banquet that day, did you kiss the eldest son or the second son?"

Zhao Xiaoniang wished she were dead at this moment. It turned out that her father had only heard rumors and didn't even know about her eldest and second sons.

"It's the second son of the Li family; his daughter has disgraced her father—"

"It's just Jiro!!"

Zhao Hucheng looked somewhat disappointed. Although he had suspected it, he still felt uncomfortable when the truth was told, and his tone even became a little harsher:

"You vixen! All the poetry, literature, and music I taught you have gone to waste. It's one thing to learn from those barbarian women, but why didn't you pick up their shrewdness instead?!"

"father----"

Zhao Xiaoniangzi lowered her head, tears streaming down her face in grievance.

His own father just kept muttering to himself:

"Perhaps it was fate. Back then, Shuzhen was only one seat away from Dalang, and three seats away from Erlang. How did she end up falling for Erlang?"

"Forget it, forget it. Erlang is still Li Erlang. He can't be called Dog Erlang or Cat Erlang. He's definitely more closely related to the Li family now. It's just that Lord Li and Li Zaisang are too shrewd. Alas, I'm afraid the position of the future mistress will fall into the hands of the Turkic barbarians."

[Zai Sang was a title held by local military nobles in the Dzungar Khanate]

"Father, is there anything else?"

Zhao Xiaoniang waited for a long time before daring to speak, but the response she received was:

"Has Li Dalang ever had any relations with any of the women in the Zhao, Xie, or Zhang families? Has he ever been promiscuous? But—"

Seeing that Li Jia Dalang was about to be identified as Ximen Qing's father, Zhao Xiaoniang replied somewhat indignantly:

"My eldest son used to value martial arts highly, either hiding at home practicing or going out hunting. Only in recent months has he become more lively and speaks in a more pleasing way. He's nothing like the kind of person you described, Father. I am like this myself, don't imagine everyone in Jinshan to be like that!!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hucheng waved his hand dismissively and said in a disdainful tone:

"What do you know, you girl? There's no such thing as a cat that doesn't steal fish, and no man who isn't amorous. The fact that Li Dalang wasn't caught just shows that he's cunning and not necessarily that philandering or shameless in private."

"Besides, what is such a thing to a noble family like ours?"

"This is nothing to hear, it's just a fleeting sound, and after hearing it so many times, it becomes tiresome."

Listening to her father's comments about men, Zhao Shuzhen, who was inexperienced in such matters, felt as if hot water had been poured over her heart. The image of Li Yuanli's dashing face, which kept her awake at night, kept popping into her mind. However, when she thought about what her father had just said, she felt particularly sad.

"Could it be that Li Erlang will end up like this in the future—?"

Before Zhao Xiaoniang could continue thinking, Zhao Hucheng, who had just been obsessed, suddenly slapped his forehead and exclaimed excitedly:

"I have three daughters. If I take one away, I still have two left, so it's always a good deal to have one more!!"

Zhao Xiaoniang's gaze gradually became somewhat vacant, while her father was extremely excited, constantly uttering words like "good deal" and "great business."